Editing Coke (fuel) (section)

==History==

===China===
Many historical sources dating to the 4th century describe the production of coke in [[ancient China]].<ref name=Ages>{{cite book|title=The Coming of the Ages of Steel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMwUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA54|access-date=17 January 2013|publisher=Brill Archive|page=55|id=GGKEY:DN6SZTCNQ3G|quote=Historic sources mention the use of coke in the fourth century AD|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501155853/http://books.google.com/books?id=uMwUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA54|archive-date=1 May 2013|year = 1961}}</ref> The Chinese first used coke for heating and cooking no later than the 9th century.{{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} By the first decades of the 11th century, Chinese ironworkers in the [[Yellow River]] valley began to fuel their furnaces with coke, solving their fuel problem in that tree-sparse region.<ref>McNeil, William H. ''The Pursuit of Power''. University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp. 26, 33, and 45.</ref> By 1078 CE, the implementation of coke as a replacement to charcoal in the production of iron in China dramatically increased the industry to 125,000 tons per year. The iron was used for the creation of tools, weapons, chains for suspension bridges, and Buddhist statues.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ebrey |first=Patricia B |title=Cambridge Illustrated History of China |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0521435192 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge |publication-date=2010 |pages=143–144 |language=English |chapter=Shifting South: The Song Dynasty}}</ref>

China is the largest producer and exporter of coke today.<ref>He, Q., Yan, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Coke workers’ exposure to volatile organic compounds in northern China: a case study in Shanxi Province. Environ Monit Assess 187, 359 (2015). {{doi|10.1007/s10661-015-4582-7}}</ref> China produces 60% of the world's coke. Concerns about [[air pollution]] have motivated technological changes in the coke industry by elimination of outdated coking technologies that are not energy-efficient.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Huo |first1=Hong |last2=Lei |first2=Yu |last3=Zhang |first3=Qiang |last4=Zhao |first4=Lijan |last5=He |first5=Kebin |title=China's coke industry: Recent policies, technology shift, and implication for energy and the environment |journal=Energy Policy |date=December 2010 |volume=51 |pages=391–404 |doi=10.1016/j.enpol.2012.08.041 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421512007239 |access-date=22 December 2020|hdl=2027.42/99106 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

===Britain===
In 1589, a patent was granted to Thomas Proctor and William Peterson for making iron and [[steel]] and melting lead with "earth-coal, sea-coal, turf, and peat". The patent contains a distinct allusion to the preparation of coal by "cooking". In 1590, a patent was granted to the [[Dean of York]] to "purify pit-coal and free it from its offensive smell".<ref>{{cite web|title=CCHC—Your Portal to the Past|url=http://fayette.psu.edu/Information/Community/31281.htm|work=Coal and Coke Heritage Center|publisher=Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus|access-date=19 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523122125/http://fayette.psu.edu/Information/Community/31281.htm|archive-date=23 May 2013}}</ref> In 1620, a patent was granted to a company composed of William St.&nbsp;John and other knights, mentioning the use of coke in smelting ores and manufacturing metals. In 1627, a patent was granted to Sir John Hacket and Octavius de Strada for a method of rendering sea-coal and pit-coal as useful as [[charcoal]] for burning in houses, without offense by smell of smoke.<ref name=reports>{{cite book|last=Peckham|first=Stephen|title=Special Reports on Petroleum, Coke, and Building Stones|year=1880|publisher=United States Census Office. 10th census|page=53}}</ref>

In 1603, [[Hugh Plat]] suggested that coal might be charred in a manner analogous to the way [[charcoal]] is produced from wood. This process was not employed until 1642, when coke was used for roasting [[malt]] in [[Derbyshire]]; previously, brewers had used wood, as uncoked coal cannot be used in brewing because its sulphurous fumes would impart a foul taste to the [[beer]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Nersesian|first=Roy L|title=Energy for the 21st century|edition=2|year=2010|publisher=Sharpe|location=Armonk, NY|isbn=978-0-7656-2413-0|page=98|chapter=Coal and the Industrial Revolution}}</ref> It was considered an improvement in quality, and brought about an "alteration which all England admired"—the coke process allowed for a lighter roast of the malt, leading to the creation of what by the end of the 17th century was called [[pale ale]].<ref name=reports/>
[[File:Blast Furnaces at Blists Hill.jpg|thumb|The original blast furnaces at Blists Hill, [[Madeley, Shropshire|Madeley]]]]

In 1709, [[Abraham Darby&nbsp;I]] established a coke-fired [[blast furnace]] to produce [[cast iron]]. Coke's superior crushing strength allowed blast furnaces to become taller and larger. The ensuing availability of inexpensive [[iron]] was one of the factors leading to the [[Industrial Revolution]]. Before this time, iron-making used large quantities of charcoal, produced by burning wood. As the [[coppicing]] of forests became unable to meet the demand, the substitution of coke for charcoal became common in Great Britain, and coke was manufactured by burning coal in heaps on the ground so that only the outer layer burned, leaving the interior of the pile in a carbonized state. In the late 18th century, brick [[beehive oven]]s were developed, which allowed more control over the burning process.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cooper|first=Eileen Mountjoy|title=History of Coke|journal=Special Collections & Archives: Coal Dust, the Early Mining Industry of Indiana County|series=Indiana University of Pennsylvania|url=http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=86000|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210073423/http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=86000|archive-date=10 February 2015}}</ref>

In 1768, [[John Wilkinson (industrialist)|John Wilkinson]] built a more practical oven for converting coal into coke.<ref>{{cite book|last2=Wittcoff|first1=M. M. |last1=Green |first2=H. A.|title=Organic chemistry principles and industrial practice|year=2003|publisher=Wiley-VCH|location=Weinheim|isbn=978-3-527-30289-5|edition=1. ed., 1. reprint.}}</ref> Wilkinson improved the process by building the coal heaps around a low central chimney built of loose bricks and with openings for the combustion gases to enter, resulting in a higher yield of better coke. With greater skill in the firing, covering and quenching of the heaps, yields were increased from about 33% to 65% by the middle of the 19th century. The Scottish iron industry expanded rapidly in the second quarter of the 19th century, through the adoption of the hot-blast process in its coalfields.<ref name=beaver>{{cite journal |last=Beaver|first=S. H.|title=Coke Manufacture in Great Britain: A Study in Industrial Geography|journal=Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers)|year=1951|series=The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers|issue= 17|pages=133–48|jstor=621295|doi=10.2307/621295}}</ref>

In 1802, a battery of beehive ovens was set up near [[Sheffield]], to coke the [[Coal seams of the South Yorkshire Coalfield|Silkstone coal seam]] for use in crucible steel melting. By 1870, there were 14,000 beehive ovens in operation on the [[Durham coalfield|West Durham coalfields]], producing 4,000,000 long tons of coke per year. As a measure of the expansion of coke making, the requirements of the [[History of the steel industry (1850–1970)#Britain|iron industry in Britain]] were about 1,000,000 tons per year in the early 1850s, rising to about 7,000,000 tons by 1880. Of these, about 5,000,000 tons were produced in Durham county, 1,000,000 tons in the South Wales coalfield, and 1,000,000 tons in Yorkshire and Derbyshire.<ref name=beaver/>
[[File:41018 Schiefe Ebene Nov 5 2016.png|thumb|[[DRB Class 41|41 018]] of the [[Deutsche Reichsbahn#1937: Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB)|Deutsche Reichsbahn]] climbing the famous [[Schiefe Ebene]], 2016]]

In the first years of [[steam locomotive]]s, coke was the normal fuel. This resulted from an early piece of environmental legislation; any proposed locomotive had to "consume its own smoke".<ref>[[Railways Clauses Consolidation Act 1845]] ([[8 & 9 Vict.]] c. 20) section 114</ref> This was not technically possible to achieve until the [[Firebox (steam engine)#Brick arch|firebox arch]] came into use, but burning coke, with its low smoke emissions, was considered to meet the requirement. This rule was quietly dropped, and cheaper coal became the normal fuel, as railways gained acceptance among the public. The smoke plume produced by a travelling locomotive seems now to be a mark of a steam railway, and so preserved for posterity.

So-called "gas works" produced coke by heating coal in enclosed chambers. The flammable gas that was given off was stored in [[gas holder]]s, to be used domestically and industrially for cooking, heating and lighting. The gas was commonly known as "[[town gas]]" since underground networks of pipes ran through most towns. It was replaced by "[[natural gas]]" (initially from the [[North Sea oil]] and gas fields) in the decade after 1967.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}} Other byproducts of coke production included tar and ammonia, while the coke was used instead of coal in cooking ranges and to provide heat in domestic premises before the advent of [[central heating]].

===United States===
[[File:Coke burning.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|Illustration of coal mining and coke burning from 1879]]

In the US, the first use of coke in an iron furnace occurred around 1817 at Isaac Meason's Plumsock puddling furnace and rolling mill in [[Fayette County, Pennsylvania|Fayette County]], [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite book|last=DiCiccio|first=Carmen|title=Coal and Coke in Pennsylvania|publisher=Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission|location=Harrisburg, PA}}</ref> In the late 19th century, the [[coalfield]]s of [[western Pennsylvania]] provided a rich source of raw material for coking. In 1885, the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company<ref>A subsidiary of the [[Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway]].</ref> constructed the world's longest string of coke ovens in [[Walston, Pennsylvania]], with 475 ovens over a length of 2&nbsp;km (1.25 miles). Their output reached 22,000 tons per month. The [[Minersville Coke Ovens]] in [[Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania]], were listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1991.<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

Between 1870 and 1905, the number of beehive ovens in the US increased from approximately 200 to nearly 31,000, which produced nearly 18,000,000 tons of coke in the Pittsburgh area alone.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eavenson|first=Howard N.|title=The First Century and a Quarter of American Coal Industry|year=1942|publisher=Waverly Press|location=Pittsburgh, PA}}</ref> One observer boasted that if loaded into a train, "the year's production would make up a train so long that the engine in front of it would go to San Francisco and come back to Connellsville before the caboose had gotten started out of the Connellsville yards!" The number of beehive ovens in Pittsburgh peaked in 1910 at almost 48,000.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warren|first=Kenneth|title=Wealth, Waste, and Alienation: Growth and Decline in the Connellsville Coke Industry|year=2001|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|location=Pittsburgh, PA}}</ref>

Although it made a top-quality fuel, coking poisoned the surrounding landscape. After 1900, the serious environmental damage of beehive coking attracted national notice, although the damage had plagued the district for decades. "The smoke and gas from some ovens destroy all vegetation around the small mining communities", noted W. J. Lauck of the U.S. Immigration Commission in 1911.<ref name=Martin>{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Scott C.|title=Killing Time: Leisure and Culture in Southwestern Pennsylvania, 1800–1850|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|location=Pittsburgh, PA}}</ref> Passing through the region on train, [[University of Wisconsin]] president [[Charles R. Van Hise|Charles Van Hise]] saw "long rows of beehive ovens from which flame is bursting and dense clouds of smoke issuing, making the sky dark. By night, the scene is rendered indescribably vivid by these numerous burning pits. The beehive ovens make the entire region of coke manufacture one of dulled sky: cheerless and unhealthful."<ref name=Martin/>

In 2024, an investigation into 17 coke burning facilities in the US could be responsible for an estimated 892 premature deaths every year, as well as increased [[asthma]] symptoms and other health impacts for residents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bauer |first=Will |date=2024-12-04 |title=Granite City plant could be responsible for 6 to 11 premature deaths annually, report finds |url=https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2024-12-04/granite-city-plant-could-be-responsible-for-6-to-11-premature-deaths-annually-report-finds |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=STLPR |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="120px">
File:Coke-Ovens---Cokedale-CO.jpg|Coal coking ovens at [[Cokedale, Colorado]], supplied steel mills in Pueblo, CO
File:Cherry Valley Coke Ovens 3.jpg|The 200 [[Cherry Valley Coke Ovens]] built around 1866
File:Dunlap-coke-ovens-tn2.jpg|[[Dunlap coke ovens]]
File:Minersville Coke Ovens.jpg|[[Minersville Coke Ovens]]
File:Old coke ovens, Redstone, CO.jpg|[[Redstone Coke Oven Historic District]]
File:SydneyCokeOvenGeneralViewCa1900.jpg|[[Sydney Tar Ponds]]
</gallery>